tenyearstoturner

We are happy for you to do £500 worth of living wage hours for the performance.

An image taken at private view of Haiku, 1st part of tryptich of exhibitions at DuchampIYoko.

The friday before last I attended “Share Market Share”; a day of information, dissemination and discussion relating to the contemporary art market.

I’m still disseminating.

Although one thing I did think of afterwards was submitting a Freedom of Information request to the Arts Council about funding gallerys receive to travel and sell art at art fairs.

a positive…….

“I am delighted to accept your proposal for performing at Impossible Lecture this year!”

……unfortunately I work weekends and usually I would have been able to book the weekend off no problem however the company I work for are re-structuring meaning I cannot book off any time in August!

Just read Emily Speeds blog about not paying Open fees after just paying open fees. £10 for Platform, email confirmation #221, that’s £2,210 – probably, presume…ably.

To create plinth like sculptures/ storage containers that could be occupied (large enough to stand, sit, squat, lie) which freeze a pose (still life) and look empty from the outside but there’s a way in; three dimensional outlines of working/ leisure positions (sat in an office chair or an armchair, at a bar stool, sunbathing, queuing) isolating a moment.

Plinths display art, they elevate and focus the eye to the object – the finished product of an artists practice (usually out of sight, out of mind). I would research the role plinths play in the subjective experience of seeing art and test the possibility that plinths could be art objects, living sculptural spaces – possible products in their own right, to be engaged with on their own terms and have a life of their own, in and outside the white walls.

I will measure, draw, photocopy, photograph, make, talk, think, look, read, look again, sit on top of and inside of plinths and ask others to do the same (to join in).

As well as the implicit time, space and investment of Platform all the resources you have as an organisation at your disposal that maybe useful contributing towards a practical, working studio and specifically joinery and upholstery skills/knowledge (maybe receive some specific tuition, attend a one-day course).

At a CAS event (summer 2012) about collecting performance art, a speaker discussed how performance is used as one-off, private view entertainment but if you’re not invited, you’re not included.

My practice embraces the Beuysian premise that everyone’s an artist and as a consequence thrives on public engagement, encourages dialogue and provokes debate. Plinths in white cube spaces with signs advising do not touch put art at arms length, Platform means sharing my practice, being open, honest and there. A product can be passive, an artefact but the practice is present, active, doing, now.

I’m looking forward to performing as part of The Harris Flights.

However the £500 payment suggests a compromise – doing half the proposal.

My initial proposal included funding for 100 hours at £10 per hour, a total of £1000.

I am aware that the Harris pays artists approx. £175 per day (for 6 hours) meaning my initial proposal should have been priced at £3,500 – a difference/saving of £2,500.

Every email I receive from Preston City Council states “Preston City Council is a Living Wage Employer”, which I think is currently £7.45 per hour.

I would be willing to stick with the original, ambitious proposal of performing for 100 hours at the Living Wage of £7.45 meaning the total cost would be £745.

Or, as you like, £500 worth of performance at the Living Wage.

I look forward to hearing from you.